Blue Origin passenger, Cameron Bess, went from being aTwitch streamer to an astronaut.- Bess, who had dinner with
Jeff Bezos before the launch, said the descent was the hardest part.
When my dad told me we were going to be the first parent-child duo to fly into
My dad, the founder of Bess Ventures, participated in the ticket auction for Blue Origin's first passenger trip to the edge of space with Jeff Bezos. The ticket price far exceeded what he wanted to pay but he kept in touch with Blue Origin and eventually they offered dad two tickets.
As a kid, I never expected to become an astronaut. I'm a game designer and do livestreaming on video platform Twitch under the name "MeepsKitten," where I have more than 3,200 followers.
Now, I'm the first
I found out my dad and I were flying to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket six months before the flight. We had to keep it a secret from everyone.
We didn't know who was going to be on the flight with us until Blue Origin revealed on November 23 that our crewmates were ABC's "Good Morning America" coanchor Michael Strahan; the daughter of US astronaut Alan Shepard, Laura Shepard Churchley; philanthropist Dylan Taylor; and investor Evan Dick.
Training
I arrived at Blue Origin's Astronaut Village in the West Texas desert on December 5 where I met the rest of the crew.
The first two days were focused around training and getting used to the flight simulator.
One night, the six of us enjoyed dinner with Bezos when he asked us what inspired us to go into space.
On the third day, we took an evaluation and passed a written exam, which was a Federal Aviation Administration requirement.
Launch day
Breakfast was at 5:45 a.m. on launch day but I couldn't eat. I was a little nervous but only because I was so excited.
After leaving Astronaut Village at 6:30 a.m., we walked up the launch tower, had photos with Bezos, and climbed into the rocket capsule — all of which we rehearsed in training.
The moment we lifted off, we all cheered. The upward thrust became stronger as the rocket flew higher and obviously, the sky got darker. The view of the Earth was incredible — like nothing I'd ever seen before.
When the capsule reached the edge of space, we unbuckled our seatbelts and floated around in zero gravity. It felt like I was in a dream.
We planned in training what to do in the capsule in zero gravity. I took photographs, fist-bumped dad, did somersaults, and said my catchphrase "Meowdy" for my Twitch followers.
Those three minutes floating in zero gravity were the quickest three minutes of my life.
After strapping myself back into the seat, we started descending. This was the hardest part for me because it's when you experience the most G-force. It felt like my face was being pulled back, there was a lot of pressure on my chest, and I got a bit dizzy. The rest of the crew didn't feel as bad as me.
Once the capsule landed, a group of people, including Bezos, my mom, and my sister, were waiting in the desert to greet dad and I.
Back at the training center, everybody was smiling and hugging, but I couldn't function. I was speechless from the experience. It was a dream come true.
Bezos then gave us each a Blue Origin astronaut pin.
Out of the whole experience, the human moments were my favourite. Going through the experience as a team was incredible.
Some people think space travel is a show-off but I think it's about opening up space travel to everyone so we can make humanity better and save the planet — it's all about people.